April Fools for Love & Giveaway: Oh the "Byrony:" The Making of Lily Stargazer

Tuesday, March 31, 2015

Oh the "Byrony"

The making of Lily Stargazer

Mad, bad, and dangerous to know. That is how Lady Caroline
Lamb described the historical George Gordon, Lord Byron. When I decided to
write a steampunk series, I knew that I wanted Lord Byron to be a central
figure in my work. Byron was a rock star of his age. And honestly, if I can be
all fan girl for a minute, he is pretty darned cute. When I set about creating
my steampunk world, I didn't want Queen Victoria or Tesla to be the sun in my
solar system, I wanted Byron.

Given I can barely understand the man I've married, I knew I
could not write from a man’s consciousness. Byron could not be my protagonist.
Instead, I decided I would write from the perspective of one of Byron’s lovers.
Lord Byron was infamous for his sexual appetites. In fact, he went into
self-imposed exile to flee possible persecution and damage to his reputation
for his bisexuality. I imagined that being in love with Byron would be a lot
like being in love with any man you can’t quite tie down . . . thrilling and
unfulfilling all at once. What kind of woman would be with Byron?

In walked the concept for Lily Stargazer. I wanted Lily to
be a less than perfect character. I wanted her to have anti-hero qualities:
questionable morality, cynicism, a self-destructive byronic energy, a rebellious
nature, and questionable sexual appetites. In other words, I wanted her to be a
Byronic heroine! The term Byronic hero,
as we know, is inspired by the attitude cultivated from the historical Lord
Byron himself. Oh, the “Byrony.”

The irony for me was that I didn't even really think about
the fact that she was Byronic. I just wanted to write a character that was true
to the dark, crappy sides of life. There is a tremendous body of literature on
the indenturing of children during the Industrial Revolution in England.
Children suffered in horrible working conditions that are akin to slavery. I
wanted to write about a woman who suffered at the hands of others and did not
bounce back.

Despite her terrible past, as revealed in the novel through
flashbacks, I envisioned Lily Stargazer as a woman who accidentally found herself
in a profession that was typically male dominated: as an airship pilot. And I
wanted Lily to be good at what she did, really good. In fact, I wanted to punk
the norms of 1823 (and today, really) and make Lily the best at a
male-dominated sport. Take that, male sports. Lily Stargazer, an airship racer
with a famous lover and an opium addiction, was born.